More About Clyde

Clyde's story continues: http://rfblogopolis.blogspot.com/

Let’s Take a Walk

Recently we have been going out on walks around the area here in Vancouver. The weather has been nice recently and we have enjoyed being outside.

One of the places we have gone a couple of times is down the Salmon Creek Trail. It is a nice trail that goes along Salmon Creek and sometimes you get to see some wildlife. One day we also took a side trip down Cougar Creek. We always like seeing the plants and animals.

 

 

We also did the trail at Fort Vancouver. That is always a place I like to go.

We also went with Dana’s brother, Anton, around a section of the Ridgefield NWR. We saw lots of animals, including a muskrat, blue herons, and a funny little bird called a creeper that climbs up the sides of trees.

 

A walk in Whipple Creek Park was also a lot of fun. There was a lot of wonderful moss to look at on all the big trees.

 

Hopefully we’ll be able to keep walking and find some new places to discover.

Seattle

We just had the great fortune to spend a day in Seattle, a city that we love. We had to go pick something up for Dana’s dad in Lynnwood, so we took a day to do it.

The view from Queen Anne Hill is one of my family’s favorite views of downtown. The Space Needle looks quite tall compared to the other buildings, but that is because there are no tall buildings next to it. Here is Ruth standing with the sculpture in the park up there.

We spent some time at Pike Place Market, which is a really neat place, and has some delicious seafood stands.

After that we took a walk on the Waterfront.

We also took time to get a plate of the best salmon and a bowl of some of the best clam chowder that I have had.

Plus a stop at the Curiosity Shop to see the wonders it holds.

I took Ruth over to the Seattle Locks that lead from Puget Sound to Lake Washington. We got there just in time to watch this tugboat go through…

 

…and for Ruth to catch this wave.

We ended the day with a visit to see the temple.

 

Overall it was a great day in Seattle and we had a great time.

Clyde

The story blog has been updated. Find out what happens to Rupert and Clyde in the next installment.

Ruth's Super Secret Story Blog

So, I started a blog a few weeks ago, kind of a "choose your own adventure" blog. I started it and, besides facebook, didn't tell anyone about it. I certainly didn't advertise it well.

But I'm telling you now!

Go to this blog and vote for title you most want to see written out by one of our "staff writers."

The comment function wasn't working, but I think I fixed it. And you don't have to be a blogspot member to leave a comment. So leave comments to your heart's desire!

I make no promises that any of the stories will be good, but they may be entertaining.

Oregon Coast

We recently took a little trip to the Oregon Coast during the 3-day weekend. We heard that the Sea Lion caves have been visited by almost all of the San Francisco sea lions, leaving pier 39 very empty. So we went to see what we could.

The day was cloudy and windy, with just a little rain. The cave was very full though. When we were there, there were about 500 sea lions in the cave. The smaller darker ones are the ones from California. The bigger Stellar Sea Lions don’t like the California sea lions taking their spots on the rocks, so there was a lot of fighting.

It was also high tide when we were there. At the mouth of the cave, a large group of sea lions were floating in and out of the mouth of the cave with the waves.

We headed north and made a stop by a sea spout, a cave on the shore that has a hole in the roof. When it is filled with water and a wave comes, it shoots out and looks like a geyser.

Ruth also had some fun making the waves obey her commands.

We finished the day with a stop at Devil’s Punchbowl and Cape Foulweather. It was more windy and cold up there. Then we got some delicious taffy from Depoe Bay.

All in all it was a great day at the beach, in January.

Last Week in Rhode Island

We are now back in Vancouver. We had a great time in Rhode Island and we always wish we could stay longer. Our last week was very nice. We were able to spend more time with Ruth’s friend Cheryl and her friend. We all went to the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence together.

We saw some great animals there, including the barn owl above and some giant anteaters. I had to add this photo of a flamingo after I saw Ruth's sisters blog post.

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to go to the zoo was to see the American Burying Beetles, which is very endangered and this zoo has a breeding program for. But we were surprised to see their display consisted of a Tupperware and some paper towel, much like how I sometimes keep things.

This video is of the snow leopard. It was doing just fine in the cold weather. We also saw elephants, giraffes, a red panda, seals, a tree kangaroo, and many other fun animals. It was a good day at the zoo, plus there were only about 8 other people there.

We also got to see the world’s largest bug, this giant termite:

We spent a day with Ruth’s mother and made a stop at Dighton Rock in Massachusetts. It is a large boulder with strange markings on it with unknown origin. It was a neat thing to see.

Our last day we took the opportunity to spend some time at Ruth’s beach near her house.

It was a great trip and we were sad to leave. Thank you to Ruth’s parents for letting us stay for so long.